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March 9, 2008

Doubts About Beckett Re Opening Day

While expressing optimism about the back injury that forced Josh Beckett to be scratched from his scheduled spring start yesterday, Red Sox manager Terry Francona acknowledged today that the Red Sox will be cautious in determining whether to send Beckett to Japan later this month. ...

"We're not there yet," Francona said before today's spring meeting with the Los Angeles Dodgers when asked whether Beckett could be bumped from the Japan trip. "I will say this: That's not the end all and be all. ..."

The good news? Francona termed Beckett's injury muscular in nature, ruling out the possibility of a more significant injury, like a disk problem. ... The flight to Japan is an estimated 14 hours, which alone might be a deterrent to keep Beckett off the journey given that he is suffering from back spasms.

Coupled with the fact that the Red Sox have become more confident that Daisuke Matsuzaka will be available to pitch in Tokyo, the team may take the safe route and keep Beckett in the US and have him pitch Game 3 of the Oakland series.

I hear that , I think the annual trip to Japan by MLB, Is the worst thing possible for players who have to go...What's the point, we already have enough of Japanese players in MLB so they already watch,and teams pay handsomely for these players.....Do they do it for the money,,,Jesus, don't we already by enough Toyota Corrola's and Sony Playstaion's to support thier ecomomy....I don't want to hear Bud Selig tell me the game is going global.....Christ it's America's Pastime.....everyone else can have Soccer.....:)

Baseball is America's Pastime because there is no question that it was invented in America, despite all the "rounders" theories. People listen to The Beatles all over the world, but its still Great Britain's band, right?

I can honestly say that I never met anyone who said baseball was a bore who 1) took the time to learn about the game enough to understand what was going on or, in the alternative, 2)wasn't a moron with the attention span of a meerkat. I have challenged at least 8 people I can recall who said baseball bored them to watch one game with me in field-box seats, and everyone of them went on to be at least casual fans of the game.

And that's with MY tutelage...just imagine if they had gone to the games with Alan and Laura! There would be 8 more Sox blogs...

9Casey, glad to hear I am not alone on the need-xanax-to-fly bus.And I also wish the season didn't start in Japan because it seems to wear out the players (though I was happy when it wore out the Yankees when they started in Japan).

Baseball boring? Hah. Now...hockey or basketball---that's boring. Running/skating back and forth for a few hours, and then just count the points when it's over.

"I can honestly say that I never met anyone who said baseball was a bore who 1) took the time to learn about the game enough to understand what was going on or, in the alternative, 2)wasn't a moron with the attention span of a meerkat."

I have. I know plenty of people who understand baseball and find it boring. It's personal taste.

Does it not strike you as just a tad arrogant to think because something absorbs and engages you that therefore it must engage everyone? And if it doesn't, they are either ignorant or stupid?

Sure, Laura, I can believe that. "Taste" isn't universally respectable---I have no trouble defending a conclusion that someone who finds kiddie porn aesthetically pleasing has some big problems, or that devotees of the hits of Tiffany have experienced no real music to compare it to, or that someone who thinks Ed Wood was a talented director must have been seated with his back to the movie screen. Baseball has all the elements of drama,and having no patience with drama usually indicates a refusal to consider and appreciate life. Yes, I do believe that baseball is dull to dull minds...also impatient minds, uncreative minds, self-obsessed minds, unreflective minds and minds that prefer mobs to individuals. There are always exceptions, and baseball takes a lot of time: I'm not talking about the people who simply can't take the time necessary to appreciate it. But I don't have to respect all personal tastes, and don't believe that all personal tastes are deserving of respect...especially those that grow out of narrow experience and ignorance.

Kiddie porn. Very relevant. Yes, taste is not universally respectable, but we weren't talking about respectable.

So you are actually insisting that if someone finds baseball boring that means they are either ignorant or stupid?

Does that apply to everything? Opera? Ballet? Tolstoy? Soccer? Golf? The Beatles?

Could it not be that some people who do understand baseball and simply do not care for it and - despite the preferences of Jack Marshall - simply find it dull?

Jack, I'm basically asking you if you are really as arrogant, self-absorbed and narrow-minded as your last couple of posts indicate. From what I know about you, you are not, not at all. Yet you seem to be insisting that you are.

One of the most astounding and wonderful things about humans is our seemingly infinite diversity. If it were somehow possible for all of us to learn equally about all things - if we could somehow combine all our knowledge, so that each of us knew what everyone else knew - we still wouldn't all enjoy the same things. There's no reason to believe that baseball is the one universal pleasure!

Isn't this all in the eyes of the beholder? I happen to find baseball fascinating and basketball dull, but I have friends who feel exactly the opposite. I don't think they are stupid, and I sure don't think that they think I am. Just like some people like chocolate and some like vanilla, it's just a matter of taste, not intelligence.

On the other hand, not liking the Beatles?? That's just not forgiveable! (Just kidding, though having entered my adolescence with the Beatles as the soundtrack, I think they were imprinted into my bloodstream forever.)

I was once on an email discussion list where a large percentage of members enjoyed science fiction. (The list was completely unrelated to sci-fi or fiction of any kind.) I wondered why that was. Someone on the list replied that there were a lot of highly intelligent people on that list, and highly intelligent people gravitate towards sci-fi.

Jack, I agree with you on some viewpoints, but this one is either you being sarcastic....Or you actually belive this....Some of the most , I wont say brilliant, engaging people I have ever met have no Idea what the priciples or practices of any sport.....But i would never say someone had a dull mind if they didn't like it....The same I would not appreciate if people thought I had a dull mind because I don't like art, M*A*S*H, Star Trek, Classical music, the beatles, Seafood, Mondays, Soccer, The View, The ending of The Departed, or people who don't wave thank you when let them into traffic.......I just don't think you actully believe this....